Gareth Bryne's Fishing Adventure
by MaraLSky
Summary: It's the middle of the night. And Siuan wants some fish. NOW. Tied in with "An Ironic Twist of Fate", but can be read without it.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This one's been floating around in my head for awhile. I just couldn't think of what Siuan might crave that would send poor Gareth on a wild goose chase... Until now.

Something kept poking Gareth Bryne in the ribs.

He kept his eyes firmly closed, his only response being to pull Siuan a little closer to himself. He knew she would likely sense that he was less than sound asleep, thanks to her incessant poking, but he was _not_ giving in again. The woman needed her rest and she wasn't going to get it if he kept letting her convince him to give into her amorous advances at all hours of the night. At least she was just poking him—there were plenty of other things she could've done that would've made her advances far more difficult to resist.

The poking became more determined—more like repeated nudges. Light, he loved making love to his wife, but even a Warder needed rest eventually! And a woman nearly three months into her pregnancy definitely needed it even more. Nynaeve Sedai was likely to have an apoplexy if she ever found he had let her talk him into any of it. He felt his jaw tighten, remembering her stern but embarrassed lecture the week before. Not that it was any of her business.

The nudges were starting to hurt. He grunted as Siuan's sharp knuckles dug into one of his short ribs. Siuan _knew_ he was awake, of course. Why she had chosen this particular method to rouse and arouse him instead of words or kisses was beyond him. Perhaps she thought he was longing for the old days when her methods of showing her hidden affections for him had consisted of her throwing his spare boots at his head. He wondered how sure she was that he would no longer turn her over his knee for such things.

He could sense her growing irritation. Gareth was surprised she had yet to say something, but she was growing more and more illogical by the day. She seemed to be developing the strange idea that he could not only sense her emotions but that he could actually _read her mind_. Certainly there were times when one did equate the other, but how was he supposed to know that small hint of impatience meant that she wanted him to plump her bloody pillows?

Well, if she wasn't going to tell him what she wanted, that was fine. He wasn't going to give it to her this time, anyway. Strangely, he didn't sense the fiery desire from the bond that usually came when she decided she was going to have him, the Light be burned if he said differently. And that was just as well, as it would've made it nearly impossible for him to think of anything else.

So he burrowed his head deeper into the pillow, setting his arms resolutely around his wife. She would have to settle for that mode of affection at this hour. He would be more than happy to accommodate her in the morning, when they were both fully rested, but for now forced himself to tune out her painful nudges…

He had almost dozed off when she punched him in the solar plexus.

His eyes flew open and he grunted, the wind nearly knocked out of him. Being a Warder did not make one immune to pain, especially when the source of the pain came from your Aes Sedai deciding to take a piece out of you. "Siuan," he wheezed sternly, trying to catch his breath. "I am _not_ giving in this time. We are not engaging in anymore _activities_ tonight, if I have to get dressed and put on my armor to keep you from ripping my clothes off!"

She sniffed. "Men. That's all you think about! You kept me awake quite late enough as it is tonight. I do need sleep, Gareth." He gaped at her. That was all _he_ thought about? _He_ had kept _her _awake? The woman had threatened to tie him to the bed with Air if he didn't cooperate!

He knew better than to contradict her, however. The bond was…dangerous. That was the only word for it at the moment. "Then why, my love, did you insist on poking and prodding me awake?"

Siuan peered up at him scornfully. "I want fish." She said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

He stared at her, his mind struggling to make sense of these three words. Without thinking, he let one hand roam down to caress her abdomen. She wasn't really showing visibly yet, but he was too familiar with the curves of her body not to notice the small bump that was starting to emerge. It seemed to make her even more beautiful. Feeling her bare skin against his, he was regretting that her demand hadn't been what he had thought.

Particularly since that demand would have been far easier to provide for. "You want…fish?"

She narrowed her eyes. Oh yes, that bond was deadly now. Murderous. "Yes, Gareth. You will get me some fish." You would think she was Amyrlin again.

There was nothing to do but try to reason with her. "I will see if I can get you some fish from the butcher in the morning, my love," he told her soothingly, dropping a kiss on top of her head. "But this is not Tar Valon, so that may not be possible. Kore Springs doesn't get that much trade, particularly from the coastal cities. If you're hungry, I can have Suffa fetch some of the pot roast you didn't finish before you dragged me—"

She cut him off, her eyes like two blue daggers that glittered in the moonlight. "I do not want pot roast, Gareth," she said coldly. "I want fish. And you will find me some fish _now_ or you'll be sleeping in the stables with those terrible beasts tomorrow night!"

Now that was unfair. Traveler, Bela and the other horses were all fine animals. "Siuan, where am I going to find fish at this hour? Even if we were in Tar Valon—"

"Kore Springs has a fishing hole, and you very well know it, _Lord_ Bryne!"

The woman was mad. He had married a madwoman, and that madwoman was now carrying his child. "Siuan, I haven't fished since I was a boy, and I wasn't good at it then! If you can wait until morning, I can ask my men if—"

"I don't want fish in the morning. I want it _now._" She pulled away from him and sat up, placing a hand over her bare stomach. "I want fish. Our child wants fish. And I want you--_not_ one of your men--to find it for us!"

He couldn't help but eye her appreciatively, even in his incredulity. In the light of the full moon, her skin seemed to glow with a seductive radiance and the petulant set of her mouth made her seem even more kissable than usual. Her eyes glared a challenge at him—even now, she still seemed to have no idea what that glare did to him. Perhaps it would be possible to distract her from this fish fixation…

He found himself on the floor, wrapped tightly in the comforter of the bed and a weave of Air before he could even move to reach for her. She leaned over the edge of the bed, a scowl on her pretty face. "You won't be so much as touching me until you find me some fish, Gareth Bryne!" The tight bindings of the Power released him, leaving him to disentangle himself from the bedding. "Now put some cloths on and get me my fish!"

Cursing under his breath, he found his way out of the comforter. Reluctantly, he tossed it over his wife, hiding from himself that which was far more appealing than the idea of tramping out in the cool of the night to…go fishing. Feeling her eyes on him, he dressed dutifully and opened the bedroom door.

"Oh, and Gareth?" He glanced over his shoulder. "Take Suffa with you. She can help you carry the fish. I want enough to last a few days."

Next Up: Gareth and "Suffa" go fishing...


	2. Chapter 2

They sat their horses, staring silently at the glittering black water before them. Peering down into the water from Traveler's back, Gareth couldn't imagine how there could be any fish beneath that dark surface, let alone anything edible.

He cast a sidelong glance at Siuan's maidservant. "Suffa, have you ever…been fishing?"

"No, my Lord," she whispered, sounding even more tremulous than usual. Gareth didn't blame her. For someone who seemed to fear Siuan's displeasure as much as she did, news of Siuan's middle of the night obsession must have been terrifying.

"Well." He wasn't exactly sure how to proceed—the few times his father had tried to fish with him seemed more like something out of the Age of Legends rather than a mere lifetime ago. And his father had never had much interest in it. Warfare and horses were the things he had taught Gareth. "Those fish aren't going to catch themselves." He dismounted Traveler and reached for the dubious fishing gear he had collected. His father had shown him how to craft a fishing pole from a stick and some string, using insects and worm for bait. But Siuan was always going on about nets and such when she went off on one of her fishing tirades. So he had found an old canvas that was full of holes. Well, it _might_ work.

Suffa climbed down from Bela and helped Gareth remove the large bundle from Traveler's saddle. They laid the "net" out on the ground beside the water. "I guess we can just…toss it in."

There was a note of skepticism in the woman's dark eyes, but she didn't argue. They dragged the thing into the water, doing their best not to get their clothing wet in the process.

"I…don't know if this will work, my Lord," Suffa said in that small whisper of hers. Seldom did she speak without prompting.

He glanced at the holey canvas and saw her point. The thing was just floating on the surface. It couldn't possibly entrap any of the fish beneath. He reached for the long pole he had brought, and stabbed at it, trying to push it underneath the water. But it simply popped back up with a gurgle and once again floated serenely on the surface. "No. It's not." He scratched his chin. "Maybe a rock to make the middle sink in?"

They looked around for a rock large enough. Strangely, there didn't seem to be that many around the pond—perhaps everyone else needed them for their fishing nets, though that seemed an unlikely explanation to Gareth. It was Suffa who finally came rolling a large rock—Gareth would have called it a small boulder—down the edge of the stream that emptied into the pond.

Her eyes widened as she turned her attention on the pond. "Lord Gareth!" she cried frantically. "The net is floating away!"  
She was right. The thing was already too far out for him to pull it back in using the pole. He glanced at her and gestured for her to stand beside the water. "Suffa, I'll hold onto your wrist while you lean over with the pole." Without farther explanation, he handed her the makeshift fishing pole.

Theoretically, it should have worked. Gareth held Suffa's wrist with both hands as she leaned out over the water, and he urged her on as he saw the pole was mere inches from the piece of worn canvas. But there was one thing neither of them had counted on.

The mud.

So focused they both were on recapturing the one thing they both felt held hopes of them appeasing the hormonal and irrational Siuan, they didn't notice that the reason that the pole was coming closer and closer to the canvas was not that Suffa was managing to stretch herself out farther across the water. The unpleasant reality was that their boots were sliding through the mud.

Suffa's eyes widened and a cry escaped her mouth a split second before she slid into the water, pulling Gareth through the mud and into the pond with her.

Their heads emerged from the water at the same time, both sputtering from the cold and the shock of suddenly being plunged into the muddy water. Gareth glanced at Suffa. The woman's dark hair clung to her scalp and for a moment, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he caught an expression of sheer wraith that he almost recognized.

It was gone in an instant. Still, it was almost worth a dip in the pond to see the servile woman show a small amount of spirit. Almost. The two of them were likely to catch something if they remained out here much longer. Best to get Siuan her fish quickly and get back to the manor house. "Suffa, I don't suppose you've ever seen a bear fish before?"

A frightened look appeared on her face, as it always did when they asked questions about her past, but it too was gone in a flash. "Once, my Lord."

She gave no more information than that, but Gareth didn't care. "Well, that's how we're going to get Lady Siuan her fish. Otherwise, she'll use us both for fish bait, I think." He saw her shudder in the darkness—he didn't think it was from the cold. "That's what she threatened to do to me the first time we met, after all."

Suffa's eyes widened and her mouth opened, but he gestured toward the water, indicating for her to attempt to catch some fish.

Gareth knew they looked ridiculous, standing fully clothed in a pond, slapping at the water. But the whole situation was ridiculous. _I'm chest deep in a pond in the middle of the night with my wife's maidservant, both of us pretending to be bears so my pregnant wife won't have our hides. And that wife is Siuan Sanche, the former Amyrlin Seat._ Despite himself, he laughed. They'd probably find out that Suffa was some despotic ruler that had been kidnapped by the Seanchan before her subjects had had the chance to remove her—just to make things interesting.

Well, this hadn't been what he was expecting when he'd decided to chase after an oathbreaker's blue eyes, but he had found it to be exactly what he wanted.

He shouted in triumph as he caught a silvery trout between his hands and sent it flopping and flailing to the edge of the water. He heard Suffa give an uncharacteristic, but delighted laugh as another trout flashed in the moonlight and onto the shore. He wouldn't be sleeping in the stables tomorrow night after all.

They caught three more each before Gareth decided that it had to be enough for Siuan. If he was lucky, he might even get a few bites of it himself. They dragged themselves out of the pond, dripping wet but in high spirits. Siuan would be pleased.

The horses were none too happy to have dripping wet riders, but they plodded obediently back to the manor house despite this. As they dismounted the horses and grabbed the saddlebags full of freshly caught fish, Gareth realized they still weren't in the clear. There was the little matter of cleaning, gutting and cooking the fish. Things that he had even less experience with than catching them.

He considered waking their cook, but she was at least a mile's ride away and it was quite enough that he and Suffa had been dragged from their beds by Siuan's early morning cravings. He truly was wishing Suffa was a better cook. The one time they had let her cook dinner, she had nearly burned down the kitchen.

But first, they needed to get out of their soaking cloths before they both caught cold. "Suffa, are any of my shirts and trousers still on the drying line?" Suffa nodded, looking ashamed at her lack of productivity, but Gareth could've kissed her. He had faced Aiel on the warpath, an angry Amyrlin, a Queen under a Forsaken's compulsion, Seanchan and Tarmon Gai'don itself, but none of those things had brought as much terror to his heart as the thought of entering his and Siuan's bedroom without a plate heaping with fish. Well, the angry Amyrlin came close, but he thought Siuan was far scarier as a mother-to-be.

(Next Up: Gareth and Suffa cook fish...oh Light, this could be bad...)


End file.
